House Of Z

House of Z looks at designer wunderkind Zac Posen's tumultuous career from different personal angles, including glimpses into fashion's 'dark side'. "It's not all runways and lipstick and fishtail gowns," he says before the documentary plunges into his childhood.

Sandy Chronopoulos glances at what went right and what wrong as her film travels from Hip-Hop to humility, from red carpets, back to Posen's studies in London. His unsuccessful escape to Paris and depression lead him to settle on craft for the last chapter on the Fall 2014 collection "with no bells and whistles" where we see in fabulous detail the making of a spectacular teal dress.

Friends such as Karen Elson and André Leon Talley explain how they see the Posen magic, his rise to superstardom - he was "from the start a Vogue baby" - and his fall from fashion industry grace.

Home movies show little Zac's costume creations for his dolls, draped from fabric swatches found on the SoHo sidewalks around Spring Street where he grew up. Older sister Alexandra, painter father Stephen, and corporate lawyer mother Susan, who took charge when her son's career started to lift off, all comment on camera, as do his schoolmates from Saint Ann's in Brooklyn Heights that include Lola Schnabel, Paz de la Huerta, Lola Kirke, and Claire Danes.

Father Stephen, quoting Joseph Campbell gets the last word about bliss and doors opening you didn't know even existed.

Zac Posen and American Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour have cameos in Gary Ross's Ocean's Eight, which stars, among others, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon, scheduled for release in 2018.